Every Breath You Take
by dragonfly32402
Summary: WIP Post Season 4. The secret Marriage is still a secret. Admiration turns to obsession when a new recruit joins the agency. My second atempt at FF. Please RR. Flames will be ignored. CH 1 is PG13 but that may change.
1. Default Chapter

**Title:  **Every Breath You Take…

**Author:  **Dragonfly32403 (some of you know me as Osprey at Pax and All Your TV)

**Summary/ Genre:  **This story is set shortly after the ending of the Series. It takes place in the summer of 1987.  I will try to stay as canon as I can, but there may be some straying, as this takes place a couple of months after the last episode. The mystery marriage is still a mystery.  

This storyline is based on the Police song "I'll be watching you."   

Admiration turns to deadly obsession when a new recruit is teamed up with Lee and Amanda.

**Rating:** R for violence and language.

**Disclaimer:**  The song "Every Breath You Take," belongs to the Police; I just needed to borrow the message behind it.  Scarecrow and Mrs. King and the affiliated characters belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon, Inc.  Only Rayne Eberhardt, Josh Bradley, and the Everson's as well as the original storyline are mine. No infringement is intended.

**Archive:  **Anywhere, just ask me first please.

**Thanks so much to my wonderful betas at AllYourTV.com:  CanItFrancine and UKMary and anyone else there who read the story and commented.  You guys are wonderful and I promise I'll finish these.  **

Tuesday, August 13, 1987 3:30pm

Amanda Stetson smiled brightly as she walked through the bullpen and tapped lightly on Section Chief Billy Melrose's door.   The older man looked through the blind-striped glass and waved Amanda in. He arose as she came through the door and smiled.  Billy had grown quite fond of Amanda and considered her a friend as well as a co-worker.  Billy motioned for Amanda to sit, and she nodded, lowering her thin frame into the chair nearest the door.  Billy resumed his position behind his desk.  

"Hello, Amanda."

"Hello, Sir."

Billy cut right to the chase. He knew that no one was going to be happy with this little announcement and the longer he put it off, the harder it would be on him.  He took a deep breath and began.

"Amanda, I have an assignment for you."

"Yes, sir.  What is it?"

"As you know, we have a group of new recruits, fresh from Station 1 and Dodge City, coming here to have their orientation and briefings.  I'm getting a lot of heat from upstairs, saying that we need to mentor our agents better." 

 Billy rolled his eyes and continued, "as if I have all these agents to spare.  Anyway, Amanda, what I was hoping was that I could pair you up with one of our new recruits."

He saw the hesitation in her eyes.  Before she even opened her mouth to protest, he knew what the complaint would be, and he stopped her by holding a hand up between them.  

"Amanda, I think you're more than ready to act as a mentor agent.  I'm not reassigning you or Lee.  You'll still be partners; Lee will be part of this mentoring.  It's important that these agents learn the ups and downs of fieldwork and how to deal with a partner, and probably most importantly, how to follow orders.  Rayne will be a…"  

"Rain, sir?"

"Rayne. R-a-y-n-e.  Rayne Allison Eberhardt. Your agent mentoree." He again rolled his eyes at the made-up word.   

He searched for the right word, hoping to get the point across and not minimize the importance of what Amanda would be doing. 

 "Rayne will be an observer; she'll ride with you and Lee on low security missions; stakeouts and information drops mostly.  She'll be shown the ropes where she can't get in the way.  Then as she progresses, she'll be assigned her own partner, and head out into the field on her own."

"What about Beaman?  Don't they have to take his classes and work on some of those 'spring cleaning' cases?"

Amanda was hedging and they both knew it.  

"They'll be doing that too Amanda.  But, the President, and Dr. Smyth think that it would be better to have these people see some field action beyond their case studies and security checks"

"Have you mentioned this to Lee, sir?"  
  
Billy grimaced.  He hadn't mentioned it to Lee, and he wasn't exactly relishing the thought.  Lee didn't like new partners.  Hell, Lee just didn't like change.  He felt threatened, and when he felt threatened he acted, well he acted like an ass.  

"No, Amanda, I haven't.  I wanted to run it by you first.  After all, you are the, uh, the…Oh, hell, Amanda, we both know what would happen if I mentioned this to Lee first.  He'd go on a tear and we'd all be miserable for weeks."

She sighed, "I'll tell him, sir.  When should we be expecting her?"

"Tomorrow morning.  I'll send her up to the Q-bureau after the morning briefing." 

 Billy handed Amanda a manila folder, which she quickly flipped through.  She'd go through it in more depth upstairs with Lee.

Amanda nodded and pushed herself up from the chair and turned to leave.  She knew exactly how Lee would react to this news, which is of course; the reason why she told Billy that she'd be the one to break the news.   She wasn't really relishing his reaction to the news either; she just knew that he'd take it better if it came from her.

Amanda wasn't looking forward to babysitting a rookie.  She knew that she'd been a rookie not all that long ago, but the thought of some trainee sitting with her and Lee in the Q-bureau, or worse, the Wagoneer on stake out, all day was really not all that appealing.  She realized how tough it could be coming into this work without help.  She had been lucky, she'd had Lee.  She'd also been a suburban housewife with a mother, kids, and a mortgage.  But, she hadn't come right out of "spy school" as Lee liked to call it.  

Amanda put on her best smile as she turned the handle and let herself into the office she shared with her partner and husband, Lee Stetson.

Lee sat at his desktop computer trying to type something and swearing at the off-white box.  He held a pencil tightly in his right hand as he hunt-pecked at the keyboard.  He let out a particularly colorful curse as Amanda opened the door.  

"That better not have been aimed at me Stetson." She smiled slightly at his discomfort when he looked up at her.  She so enjoyed playing with him like that.

"What?  Oh, no, Amanda. I…"  

  
She held up her hand to stop his apology.  She smiled at him and, relieved, he smiled back.  He ran one hand through his hair in a now familiar gesture of frustration and tossed the pencil he'd been strangling onto his blotter.

"I don't know why you insist that I learn how to use that… _thing._" He waved disgustedly at the innocuous looking computer. "After all, you know how to use it. And hey, what are partners for?"

Lee pushed himself away from his desk and walked to his wife.  Reaching behind her, he locked the door as he took her into his arms.  She molded herself to him, relishing his gentle kiss and the feeling of his arms around her body.  He hugged her then stood back from her.

"Amanda, are the boys going to be gone this weekend?  I need to see you.  Doing this like this is killing me."  

He pouted dramatically, but there was more than a grain of truth to his words.  Only seeing one another at work, on weekends, and for stolen moments here and there was making both of them miserable.  

She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest.  She knew she had to tell him about the mentoring project, but right now it wasn't exactly the first thing on her mind.  

"Lee, the boys will be camping with the Everson's for a week starting on Friday.  They're spending the last full week of summer vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mother will be jetting over Canada with Captain Kurt.  We'll have the whole week to ourselves."

He smiled at her response and tipped her head up for another kiss.  This one wasn't anywhere near as gentle as the previous.  When this kiss broke, they both stood there, breathless and longing for more.  Amanda knew she had to do something, or this would get way out of hand.  The way she was feeling right now, Rayne may just find them here tomorrow morning in a little less than professional position.

Amanda sighed as she pushed away from her husband. 

 "Lee, there's something Billy wanted me to tell you."  She pressed on before he could even begin to question or protest.  "Lee, they need mentors for new agents that are starting here officially tomorrow."

"Whoa, ho, no Amanda, you're way too qualified to be a babysitter for some rookie fresh out of college.  And anyway, I _need_ you in the field with me.  Can't they give them to Beaman or hey, better yet, have Fielder sit on them for a while?"

"No, Lee, apparently they can't.  These recruits are going to be taking Beaman's classes on security systems, and working on low-level clearance checks, but Billy said that both Dr. Smyth and the President think it would be a good thing to get these kids out into the field to see what it's like to be a field agent.  And I wouldn't be doing this alone"

"Oh, come on, Amanda.  This is ridiculous…"

"Lee, she'll be up here bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Oh, you're kidding me."

"I kid you not."

"Amanda, you know, you don't have to volun…"

"Volunteer? Scarecrow, this was a direct order."

With a look of disgust, Lee stepped back and sat on the edge of his desk, Amanda handed him the folder.  In the almost 2 inch thick dossier, would be all the information that the agency had gathered on the recruit as well as her psyche profile and any other interesting tidbits that they had a need to know.

Lee stood up and went back to his chair.  He motioned for Amanda to come over and she rolled her chair next to his.  Reading over his shoulder, the two agents began to 'get to know' their rookie.  Lee read aloud.

"Rayne Allison Eberhardt, age 23.  Born in Grand Rapids, MI.  Father deceased, KIA in country in Vietnam 1968 at Hué.  Mother is a psychology professor at Michigan State University.   One brother in Navy intelligence. She graduated from George Washington University with bachelors in Political Science and Criminal Justice.  She got her masters degree at Hawaii Pacific University in United States Political and Military History with a minor again in Criminal Justice. She graduated Suma Cum Laude from GWU and Magna Cum Laude from Hawaii-Pacific.  Photographic memory, scored high on Analysis and Interpretation part of recruitment tests.  She speaks German, French, Spanish, some Italian, and one Native American dialect I've never heard of.  Who the hell learns Cree?"

Lee took the picture of Rayne Allison Eberhardt from under the paper clip. He looked at the young woman staring back at him.  Then absently began considering what he'd just read.

Lee let out a breath and leaned back in his chair, if anything this woman was overqualified for a job as a field agent.  She should be working a desk gathering and making sense of the many pieces of intelligence that poured in through the Georgetown Foyer.  She should be with Linguistics creating code and translating wiretaps, not sitting in the backseat of a Jeep waiting to get shot at.  And certainly not waiting around for two-bit snitches, which was what she'd be doing with a low security clearance.  

Amanda misunderstood her husband's reaction and pulled the ID photo from his hands.  The color head shot showed a stunning ash-blonde, with emerald green eyes and a million-dollar movie-star smile.  With the exception of the eye and hair color, this woman could be Francine's baby sister.

"She's a little young, even by your standards Scarecrow!"

Startled out of his reverie, Lee let the chair's two front legs drop back to the floor.  He had the distinct feeling that he'd just been insulted.  "Huh?"

"Oh, never mind, let's just get out of here. I'm starving."

Lee grabbed his suit jacket off the coat hanger, pulled his car keys out of his desk drawer, and held out his hand for Amanda.  

Relenting from her earlier annoyance, she took his hand and followed him out of the Q-bureau.  

August 13 6:30 pm

After a quick stop at home to say hello to her family and drop off her car, Amanda walked down the front steps to the silver Corvette waiting at the curb.  Lee jumped out and opened her door for her.

"You look beautiful."

Amanda blushed at the compliment, "Lee, I'm not exactly dressed up you know."  She said as she rubbed her palm against the coarse fabric of her jeans.

Lee winked, grinned, and turned the car on, "doesn't mean you aren't beautiful."

The couple sat opposite one another in the casual restaurant.  It was a departure from their regular dinners out at Emilio's.  It was okay with Amanda though, she needed some down time and a pizza and beer with Lee was really hitting the spot.  She hoped that afterwards they could go back to his apartment for a little while.  She needed to unwind and two rowdy teenaged boys and a love struck mother weren't very conducive to that.  Lee's 'magic fingers' however, now that was another story altogether.  As if reading her mind, Lee took Amanda's hand in his.

  
"Look, it's early.  Why don't we go back to my place for a while?  We could rent a movie, I'll pop some popcorn.  You know, like normal people?"

She smiled, "I'd like that a lot Lee."

They didn't make it through the movie, but that was okay with Amanda too.  

Amanda snuggled in Lee's strong arms as she lay next to him in their all too rarely shared bed.  She had to fight to stay awake.  She knew she shouldn't stay the night no matter how much she wanted to, but it was a losing battle, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time she was out all night with Lee Stetson.  But part of her needed to.  Her mother would raise her eyebrows when Amanda came in just as the boys were leaving for the skate park, and then ran back out again, but she wouldn't say anything.  They were way beyond that point.   

Lee kissed the side of Amanda's face and held her close.  He mumbled, "I love you, Mrs. Stetson," into her ear as he lost his battle with sleep.

"I love you too, Lee."  Amanda answered, and then surrendered as well.

August 14th, 8:00 am  

Amanda was the first in the Q-bureau, but Lee wasn't far behind her.  Amanda had wanted to be early so they wouldn't find Rayne sitting on their couch waiting for them to arrive.  Lee wasn't quite as hospitable to the idea, but with some coaxing, then bribing, Amanda got him to the Agency by quarter of eight.

Lee placed a kiss on Amanda's cheek and a mug of coffee on her desk as he entered the room.  Smiling the smile that made her melt, Lee took his place behind the desk to wait for their new charge.

It wasn't ten minutes before a soft tapping on the door announced Rayne's presence.  Amanda invited the younger woman into the room and stood to greet her.

The photo hadn't done this woman justice.  Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a simple but elegant ponytail.  Muted earth tone make up brought out the bright green of her eyes, and dark lipstick enhanced a naturally beautiful smile.    Her demeanor wasn't over confident or cocky like many of the young agents that came through the Agency.  Instead, this young woman actually seemed rather shy.

The young agent wore a knee length brown and tan hound's tooth skirt, with a cream-colored silk blouse.   She was tan.  She was thin and fit, and she was tall; in the pumps she wore, she was 6 feet tall if not more.  

It took Lee a moment longer than it should have to get out of his chair and greet Rayne.  It wasn't lost on Amanda.  

"Hi, I'm Amanda King; this is my partner Lee Stetson." Unconsciously, Amanda put herself between the young woman and Lee.

"Hi, I'm Rayne, pronounced like, well like Rain."  She fluttered her hands in a motion reminiscent of a shower. The younger woman smiled shyly and looked down at the floor.  When she made eye contact again, it was with Amanda.  She avoided Lee's eyes at all costs.

Rayne studied the woman standing in front of her.  She had heard that Amanda King was a beautiful woman, but the water cooler gossipers didn't do her justice. Rayne could admit easily that Amanda awed her.  She couldn't believe that a woman who looked like Amanda was a government agent.  She figured all the women who worked in the field were like the frightening Mrs. Marsten downstairs.  She could easily see how this woman had claimed and tamed Scarecrow, even thought the reasons seemed lost on the bullpen gossips.  

Rayne had only been involved with the Agency for a month, and she already knew about the legendary exploits of Scarecrow and Mrs. King.  She was impressed.  If a woman with two boys could be an agent, so could a kid from Grand Rapids.  She would do whatever it took to mold herself after Mrs. King

"Uh, Mrs. King, Mr. Stetson, this is such an honor.  I've heard so many things about both of you."

"Please, Rayne, it's Lee and Amanda."

  
Rayne nodded.  She thought she could handle first names.  After all, she was a professional and these people were her colleagues.  

"Why don't you have a seat, and we'll go over the details of this whole mentoring thing."

She looked at Lee Stetson as he spoke.  To say she admired his features would be putting it mildly.  He was incredibly good looking.  He had the most beautiful hazel eyes she'd ever seen, his longish blonde hair was combed neatly back.  He had a straight nose, good posture, and a smile that could melt steel.    
  
Rayne sat down on the couch quickly, before her legs had a chance to turn traitor and sell her out. She could barely hear the words Lee was saying over the blood rushing in her ears.  She couldn't believe she was here, with THE Scarecrow and Mrs. King.  

Amanda smiled in Rayne's general direction.  Her original insecurities were fading as Lee described exactly what the parameters of this partnership would be.  Rayne seemed enthusiastic about her work, friendly, and a little shy.  Maybe this would be good for her, for all of them for that matter.  Amanda had little opportunity to work with other agents except Francine on the odd case, and this could be a learning experience.  

'And anyway,' Amanda thought to herself, 'there are very few high priority, high security missions right now, so at least we'll have something to do besides push paper around.'

As Lee finished up his speech, Amanda asked the young woman if she'd like some coffee.  With Rayne's affirmation, Amanda handed her a mug then refilled her own and Lee's.  

"Okay, so where do we go from here?"  The young woman's voice was soft and musical.  "What do you want me to do first?"  

"Ah, well…"  Lee looked around the relatively empty office and silently begged Amanda's help when his search came to nothing.

"Well, the first thing we can do is go through the calendar and see what's on the agenda for today."  

Amanda smiled at Lee and held out her hand for the black binder for which he was fishing.  When it took him too long to find it, she stood, moved the fishbowl, and picked up the small leather book.  Shaking her head in disbelief, Amanda sat on the edge of her own desk and thumbed through the pages.  She thought she'd cured him of his habit of tossing the book behind him when he was done with it.  Lee suddenly found his hands fascinating, and then quickly turned his attention to his wife's voice.  

"Well Lee, all we have today is that follow up with T.P.  from the Jordan incident.  He's coming home today you know?"  
  
"That's right.  I almost forgot about that.  I wonder what he's been up to."

"Excuse me, T.P?  The Jordan incident?"  Rayne's thoughts instantly went to some new Middle Eastern crisis.  "What new problems are we having in Jordan?  I thought they were an ally."

It took a second for Amanda to register what Rayne was saying.  

"Jordan's a person, not the country in this case.  T.P. is a source that Lee and I use.  I'm afraid I can't tell you any more.  You'll be able to read the file eventually.  Only the agents of record and the Administrative staff have access to it right now."  Her smile was apologetic as she looked towards Rayne.

"Well, Lee.  Why don't we get going and see T.P.?  I think Rayne can come with us to see Mr. Aquinas."

Lee shrugged, "sure, I don't see why not."

Amanda handed Lee the keys to her Jeep and followed the group out the door.  

August 14th, 11:30 am.

They found T.P. sitting at the same ice cream stand he'd been at when the Stemwinder debacle had happened.  

The small, bespectacled man looked up from his tutti-frutti ice cream and smiled at the approaching agents.  "Lee, Amanda!  Hello.  Introduce me to your new friend."  

As the group sat around the table, Lee made introductions "Uh, T.P. Aquinas, this is Rayne Eberhardt.  She's new to the agency and…"

"And the good doctor got his mentoring plan pushed through, say no more Lee m'boy."

Rayne just sat fascinated as the two agents had their conversation with the tipster.  She hung on every word the three spoke.  Leaning slightly forward in her chair, Rayne could smell the many flavors T.P. had in his sundae.  She could also study the agents to her right from the corner of her eye.  She mentally remarked on the way the sun played in Lee's hair and how the slight breeze lifted Amanda's wavy hair off her shoulders.  She made mental notes on the way the two interacted with one another, the way their conversation flowed.  First Amanda spoke, and then Lee would pick up where she left off, and then back to Amanda and on and on. 

She couldn't help but notice the closeness of the two and she felt it may go deeper than even the steno-pool thought, but she dismissed that.  She chalked it up to being partners for almost 4 years.  Though, she couldn't really justify the small glances that Lee stole of the woman sitting next to him.  She decided she'd figure it out later, now was for learning how to be a field agent.

 As they said their goodbyes, T.P. suddenly remembered something.  "Oh Lee, I think this is something that deserves your talent.  Maybe our young friend here can learn something from that."

T.P. handed Lee a folded piece of paper and pointed to it as Lee put it in his pants pocket.  

"Sure T.P.   We'll take a look at it back at the Agency."  The men shook hands, Lee loosened his tie, and the three headed back to the car.

August 14th 3:30 pm

While Amanda went over procedure, handbooks, and manuals with Rayne, Lee started making phone calls on the information that T.P. had given him.  It wasn't big time, but it was still a lead on a case that had stalled a month ago.  

Lee preferred to make all these contacts from indoors if possible.  D.C. in August was unbearable and he was sure that the sports coat and tie would do him in if he had to do this on foot.  As it was, the air conditioner was chugging along like a good soldier and the room wasn't all that much cooler than the street below.  

Running his hand through his hair, Lee looked up as Amanda came through the door.  He held up a finger, "Thanks Auggie, I'll get back to you on that."

He sighed as he hung up the phone.  "This is going nowhere fast, and I'm hot."    
  


Amanda smiled and winked at him "I'll agree with that."

Lee leaned back in his chair and put his hands on top of his head, he smiled, "Where's Rayne?"

"She's with Leatherneck right now. Uh, basic lock picking class.  Um, Restraint and Escape are next week assuming all goes well with Breaking and Entering.  From now on she's going to be with us until 1 or so then go to classes."

Amanda sat on the edge of Lee's desk, "I feel like a babysitter, Lee.  This is ridiculous."  She crossed her arms, "Any news on the tip from T.P.?"  

"No, nothing yet.  Auggie is gonna snoop around a little for me.  There are some things that I want us to check out with out our tail.  Now that we have the afternoon, what's say we get out of here and do some real work."  

She smiled at him again, "Let's get out of here."  

August 14th 7:30 pm.

"Lee, I have to head home.  I was here all last night…mother and the boys…"

He touched her cheek.  "I know, and I understand."  He sighed, "Some day Amanda, we're gonna have to come clean about this."    
  


She smiled, "It was your idea," she half joked.  

"Oh, I know, but I can't keep doing this.  I want to be able to spend the night with you, without people asking questions or giving me dirty looks.  That's what married people do, Amanda.  You know?"

She hugged him, "I know."

"Okay, well, call me when you get there?  Huh?  I'll worry if you don't.  And if I worry…"

"You'll show up in my flowerbed, I know."  She kissed him gently on the lips. "You driving to work tomorrow or do you want me to pick you up, or do you want to take separate cars?  We can take separate cars if you want…"

He held a finger to her lips to stop her mid ramble.  "We aren't all going to fit in my car Amanda, unless you want to sit on my lap."  He raised an eyebrow and she laughed.  

"Alright, I'll pick you up.  Eight o'clock?"

He groaned, "Yeah eight o'clock is okay with me.  But you're gonna owe me Amanda, dragging me out of my warm bed at that ungodly hour."

He kissed her again as he opened the door for you.  "I love you Amanda Stetson.  Be careful, and don't forget to call me."

"I love you too, Lee.  I'll call.  See you in the morning."

August 14th, 9 pm

Amanda pulled the Wagoneer into the driveway and turned off the lights. She noticed the small blue sports car parked on the corner in front of the Bradley's house and figured that Josh Bradley had finally managed to get his license.  She'd have to congratulate him when she saw him.  

As Amanda let herself into the house, she didn't hear the car roar to life and peel away from the curb. 

"Mother! Boys?  I'm home."

"Oh, hello dear, Philip should be in any minute and Jamie is working on a project with Kelly Simms.  He's been on the phone upstairs all night."  She gave her daughter a knowing look.

"Are you sure Kelly Simms isn't the project?"

"Amanda.  Did you have a good evening with Mr. Stetson, dear?"

She rolled her eyes and kissed her mother, "Yes mother, I did. I'm going to bed early tonight.  I have to be in early at IFF for the next few days.  We have some trainees that we're mentoring.  They get there awful early."

"Of course dear."

"Oh, mother, Josh Bradley, from across the street must have finally passed his license test.  There's a pretty little sports car in front of their house."

"Well, it's about time.  I'll have to congratulate him when I see him.  You'd think it wouldn't take 6 tries but, you know what I say Amanda, if at first you don't succeed…"

"Try, try, again.  Yes, mother, goodnight."

"Goodnight darling."

August 15th.

With the exception of Lee being ready to go by eight o'clock in the morning there really wasn't anything shocking about the day.  

Lee and Amanda did their best to work around their intern.  They had her look up information on T.P's tip.  She was good on the computer and pleasant on the phone so parking her behind Lee's desk and making her useful was easy.  Nothing that they gave her was too high clearance, and doing some legwork like this would be good for her.

Thursday morning began cool and dry, but by noon, it was a sweltering 92° and humid.  The heat and the lack of anything to do made Lee grumpy, and by lunchtime, Amanda was hard pressed to sit in the Q-bureau with him.  

"Look, Lee, she'll be downstairs with Leatherneck in less than half an hour.  Then we can go and do some leg work. While you're waiting, lose the tie and the jacket.  It's hot, if anyone comes up here, the doors locked.  You don't have to play director today, so get comfortable and stop being so grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy." Lee growled.

"Okay, whatever you say."  Amanda went back to her work.

August 15th.  Leatherneck's lock picking class.

"Okay, Ms. Eberhardt.  This lock is a little more complicated.  Which pick are you going to use for this one?"

"Um, double diamond.  I think a half rake would be too small."

Leatherneck looked at her, pleased.  "You're good at this.  Mrs. King was pretty good at lock picking too.  You'll have to ask Lee about that sometime."

  
He handed her the double diamond and she had the deadbolt picked in under a minute.  With a shy smile, Rayne handed the pick back to Leatherneck.  She'd be able to get into or out of anything by the end of the week.  Then on to handcuffs and manacles.  Then, from there, safecracking.  

August 15th.  

Lee let Amanda out of his car and walked her to the door.  The pair stood under the porch light and Lee stole a kiss.  

"They'll be gone tomorrow Lee."

He sighed, but nodded.  It felt like forever until tomorrow, and next week would fly by.  He knew it.  

As Lee stole a second kiss, he noticed movement from across the street.  "Uh, Amanda, whose car is that across the street?"

"Oh, that must belong to Josh Bradley.  Do you know that it took him six tries to pass his license test?  His parents must have bought it for him."

He stared at the car across the street for a minute longer and frowned slightly.  "Look, if anything suspicious starts going on around here, you let me know okay."  

Amanda gave him her best, 'nothing bad ever happens in the suburbs' look, "Lee…"

"Amanda, humor me okay?  I'll feel better when I can be with you.  That's an awfully expensive car for a teenager who took 6 tries for a license."  

"Fine Lee.  If anything suspicious happens, I'll call you okay.  I have to get inside."

"I love you Amanda," he smiled.

"I love you too, Lee.  Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Amanda watched Lee head back to his car then stood watching as his taillights disappeared around the corner.  She shut off the lights and made sure the door was locked.  Then she looked out the living room window.  The car still sat there.  She shook her head and cursed herself for letting Lee make her paranoid. 

This time the car didn't leave the curb until the lights were out all over 4247 Maplewood Drive.  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The woman in the small sports car frowned as the two stood on the porch talking softly and kissing.  Didn't they know that personal stuff like that could get in their way when they tried to work together?  Anyway, Lee Stetson was an infamous playboy.  Amanda King deserved better than a man who would eventually tire of her company and move on. 

She'd almost blown it when Stetson looked in her direction.  If she hadn't been paying so much attention to the couple on the stairs, she wouldn't have gotten down in time.  If he'd seen her, all hell would've broken loose.  But, if Stetson was as good as everyone says, when he looked around he was warning Amanda about something fishy.  Tonight she had to wait an extra half hour before leaving for home.  

Tomorrow night she would be here again and hopefully, she'd get a chance to look around the house.  If she could get away a little early she could get in the house for a few minutes, have a look around.  She knew that the boys were going to be gone, and that the older woman, who must have been Amanda's mother, had already left.  And if Stetson and King kept up their usually nightly ritual, she'd have a safe 2 hours to look around.

As she slid the car into her numbered spot in the garage and sat behind the wheel for a few minutes thinking about the things she'd seen in her recent surveillance.  She rewound the film in her camera and placed it in a small plastic canister.  She'd develop it tomorrow morning before work.  

As she slipped into bed, the last thought that crossed her mind before she drifted to sleep, was about Amanda King.  

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

August 16th.  Q-Bureau

"Lee, my mother left last night for Canada.  The boys are leaving in less than half an hour for the mountains.  And we will have the house all to our selves this week."  She moved closer to him.  As he dipped his head down towards her mouth, the sound of the doorknob turning made them jump apart.  

Lee smoothed his tie down against his chest and cast a glance at Amanda, who nodded slightly as the door opened.

"Uh, hi Billy. What's up?"

Billy looked knowingly at Amanda then at Lee.   Though he managed to keep his face rather neutral, inside he was happy for both of them.  He'd told them as much before, but until they decided that it was time for the rest of the world to know, he'd let it go.

"Good morning, Amanda.  Lee."

"Good morning, Sir."

"I just came to tell you about the stellar job you're doing with this mentoring thing.  Rayne is just bubbling over.  Excellent job, you two."

"That's it?  You came all the way up her to tell us that?"

"No. I came up here to tell you that today, Rayne will be with Beaman and Leatherneck all day.  If you have anything with a higher clearance that you need to do, I'd recommend you do it today.  Oh, and this came in for you from T.P. Aquinas."

"Oh, uh, thanks Billy."

Billy nodded and headed back down to the bullpen.

August 16th  

She sat in front of the house for a few minutes.  There were people all over this neighborhood during the day.  Children played in the streets and on the sidewalks, neighbors talked in front yards over tall glasses of sweet tea.  She had to make sure that Stetson and King wouldn't be here right after work.  She pulled a black ball cap down over her eyes, and sat back in her seat.  Glancing at her watch again, the woman realized that she had only enough time to get back before she was too late returning from lunch, and someone noticed.

The small blue car roared to life and with a screeching of tires, headed out of Arlington.

August 16th 8 pm.

Dusk was just beginning to settle over Washington DC as Lee Stetson and his wife stepped out of the restaurant and headed back to his car.   With a hand on the small of her back, Lee opened the door to the Corvette and watched Amanda slide onto the seat.  She smiled up at him as he glanced around quickly before stealing a gentle kiss and closing the door.

The 'Vette's powerful engine growled as Lee turned the key.  The pair rode in comfortable silence back to Virginia.  Amanda reached out and laid her fingers gently on Lee's thigh.  He smiled in her general direction, stabbed the gearshift into sixth, and covered her fingers with his own.  

"Lee?"  

"What?"

She thought for a minute then shook her head, "Nothing.  Never mind."

He drew his eyebrows together, "Okay…"

"No, really, it's nothing.  I was just thinking how hard it's going to be when this week is over."

He let out a sharp breath and nodded his agreement.  

August 17th  1:17 am

The shrill ringing of the telephone jarred Amanda awake.  She slapped Lee's hand away as he reached for the offending object.  Her heart pounded as she pulled the cold plastic to her ear.  Nobody called at this hour, not unless something horrible had happened.

"Hello?"  Amanda snapped on the bedroom light and Lee groaned and pulled the thin sheet over his eyes.

Heavy silence answered her from the phone.  Only the occasional tick of an open line let her know that the caller on the other end was still there.   This time her greeting was answered with soft, shallow breathing.  

Unsure why she wasn't just hanging up, Amanda gripped the phone tighter when the breaths turned to low, chilling laughter.  She dropped the handset then scooped it up and slammed it into the cradle.  

Now Lee was fully awake.  "What was that?"

"Hmm?  Oh, just a wrong number.  Go back to sleep."


	2. chapter 2

August 18th 5:30 pm

Amanda picked the stack of mail off the floor and flipped quickly through the bills, magazines, and flyers.  There was only one envelope that could pass for a letter.  Amanda frowned as she turned the thick packet in her hand.  There was no return address and the front was labeled:

Amanda Stetson

4247 Maplewood Drive

Arlington, VA  22213

Now, who on earth would send her a letter with Stetson in her name?  No one at work knew, at least she and Lee were pretty sure that they didn't.  Her mother certainly didn't know or she would still be hearing about it.  Few if any of the neighbors had seen Lee in more than passing, fewer still knew his name.  And she was almost certain that Joe wouldn't be this careless.  He knew, or at least suspected something was up with Lee and Amanda, but he wouldn't call her on the carpet about it so publicly.

Training told her to take it to the Agency to be irradiated, x-rayed, dusted for fingerprints, run through a printer ID, and possibly detonated before she opened it.  Being Amanda however, she slid her car key under the flap and neatly opened the thick white envelope. 

Inside was a greeting card, standard Hallmark variety, with the greeting "I'll be Seeing You."  It was odd to say the least, this was a going away card, and Amanda wasn't going anywhere that she knew of.

She gasped when she pulled the card from the envelope and a rather large stack of 3x5 pictures fell to the carpet. 

Her heart was racing.  Even from where she stood, she could see that the pictures weren't anything that she'd want to be showing her friends and family.  Dropping her keys and other random detritus to the table, she crouched down and picked up the pictures.  By the time she had flipped to the last in the stack, she was near tears.  These weren't just compromising, some were just short of pornographic, and so intimate she felt violated.

 Trembling, Amanda placed the pictures on the table and called Lee's car phone. 

"Amanda?  What is it?  What's wrong?" He was fighting to keep the fear out of his voice.  Tears scared him, and Amanda's tears terrified him.

"Lee, you need to come home?"

"Where are you Amanda?  I'm on my way to Arlington, but…"

She cut him off, "I'm at the house.  Lee, there's something I need you to see."

Ordinarily an invitation like that would've raised a smile, among other things.  Today, instead, Lee felt a bit sick.  "Amanda, do I need to call back-up?"

"No! No. Don't do that.  Just get here as soon as you can, okay?"

Nodding once before realizing she couldn't see him through the phone, he said he'd be there as soon as possible and hung up.  The agent in him wanted to call Billy, to get Francine and a team over to Amanda's house yesterday, but she told him not to.  Actually, she sounded more horrified _after_ he had suggested backup than before. 

August 18th. 6:03 pm

Lee barged through the door, gun drawn, almost hoping it was terrorists, or KGB, something, anything, as long as it was something he could fix. 

Amanda stared at him, barely fazed by his theatrical entrance.  She handed him the stack of pictures and the card as he reholstered his sidearm. 

"Oh my God.  Where did you get these?"

"They came in the mail.  Lee, the envelope was addressed to Amanda Stetson.  Someone's been in my house.  In my bedroom." She shivered slightly. 

The fear in her voice and the tears in her eyes had been replaced with righteous anger.  How dare anyone observe her in her own home?   

Lee was going through the pictures again, picking some out and tossing the others on the entry table.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking some of these to the Agency.  They can tell us who printed this envelope and maybe where the pictures were developed.  Maybe they can get some fingerprints that aren't ours off of these too."

"Lee, it's addressed to Amanda Stetson.  Do you really want to take that to Billy?  What if Smyth finds out…"

"Don't worry about it.  It's a cover we've used in the past. And anyway, someone's been taking pictures of us.  I'd rather him see our names on an envelope than some of these pictures.  Wouldn't you?  I don't think he'd buy that it was 'just a cover' if he saw this one, do you?"  He held up a picture of two very consenting adults, very nearly undressed.

She nodded her agreement hesitantly.  She wasn't comfortable with this.

Watching her closely, Lee put down the stack of pictures that he'd decided to take with them and took Amanda's hands in his.

"Manda, it's gonna be okay."

When she didn't answer him, he put his arms around her and hugged her to him. "I promise, Amanda, I'll figure this out okay?"

He felt her nod against his shoulder and he let her go.  "Okay then.  Let's get these to the Agency, shall we?"

She nodded again and swiped at fresh tears.  "I love you, Lee."

He frowned some then smiled at her, "I love you too, Amanda.  Let's go."

_A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews.  It is such a great help to have people comment on the stories._

_ I'm sorry this took so long to put up.  My laptop has been in the computer shop for a while.  I'm doing what I can, and I promise that I'll have more up as soon as possible.  The next chapters should be shorter ones like this one, not as long as the first.  _


	3. chapter 3

The ride to the agency was silent but for the radio playing softly in the background. Amanda had her hand on Lee's thigh and was staring out the passenger side window of the sleek silver sports car.

All Lee could think to say was, "Hey, Amanda, look, we'll take care of this okay? It'll be fine."

She just turned her gaze to him, nodded and went back to staring out the window. They had always known that they could be found out. After all a marriage certificate was public record. They'd even known in their time together that keeping their marriage a secret didn't make either of them any safer, because partners were still targets. But this felt personal.

August 18th 7:00 pm

Lee called Billy, hoping to catch him before he left for the night. Having no success at the agency Lee called Billy's house and managed to get him back to the office.

Billy alternated staring at the agents in front of him and the pictures in his hands. He shook his head. "Do you two realize that in the wrong hands…? What Smyth would do with these?"

"Yeah, yeah, Billy I know," Lee stuffed his hands in his pockets and Amanda looked at the floor.

"Sir, that's my house. Someone was in my house. They've been following Lee and I, and they've been taking pictures on us, of my family. I know that these could be misunderstood…"

"Misunderstood? Oh Amanda dear, there's very little left to be misunderstood…" Francine Desmond sat on the arm of one of the two office chairs in front of Billy's desk.

"Francine!" Three voices cut her off.

"Sorry, sorry." She held up her hands in defeat. She just couldn't help herself sometimes. It wasn't that she even disliked Amanda; she was just amazed at how one person could get herself into so much trouble. Or how she could be such a master of understatement.

The pictures were intimate. There was no doubt that there was something going on between the two of them. Even the most innocent pictures, not that there were many, showed a hint of…something. Smyth would have a field day with these. Billy took the pictures back from Francine, restacked them and tapped the edges on the blotter in the middle of his desk.

"I'll send some of these to Ernie to tell me what kind of film they used, I'll see if we can get anything off the paper or if there's some way to tell where these were developed. I'll send some to fingerprinting to see if they can get anything off of these that don't belong to you two. And finally I'll send the envelope to QD."

He looked across his desk at two of his best agents. He wished he could do more, but he'd be jumping through hoops just to keep Smyth from finding out about this. If the old man got a whiff of this it would be all he needed to end some careers.

"Francine, you're in charge of this case. Quiet is better than quick…"

"Sure Billy. I'll take these down myself." She smiled a small, sympathetic smile at Amanda and Lee then took the stack of pictures and the envelope and left the office.

"Ah, Billy, some of these pictures were taken at Amanda's house. Someone…"

The older man held up his hand, "I know." He turned his attention to the woman, "Amanda, is there some way you can get your mother and the boys out of the house…"

"Oh, yes sir. My mother is in Canada for a week, and the boys are in the Blue Ridge."

"Is there somewhere you can stay…"

"Uh, Billy, she can stay at my apartment." Lee winced, he sounded a little too eager, even to his own ears.

Billy forced himself not to smile. "I'm sure it would be no trouble at all," was his sarcastic reply, but before Lee could respond, Billy shook his head. "Did you even glance at those pictures Stetson? Unless there's something you need to tell me, I'm not sure I think it's appropriate for her to be staying at your apartment."

Billy wanted to laugh out loud at the stunned look on the agents' faces. He didn't care if Amanda stayed at Lee's apartment, he didn't care if they rented a room together somewhere as long as they were discreet. He was shocked though when Amada looked up at Lee from her chair and he sighed and nodded.

"Ah, Billy, can I have a couple minutes alone with Amanda? I think there is something we need to tell you."

Billy nodded and stood to leave, "Lee, look…whatever it is…"

"Yeah, Billy, I know."

The older man nodded and left the room.

They knew they couldn't keep it a secret forever, and if they had to tell someone, Billy was the safest.

"Lee, we have to tell him. It's going to come out eventually anyway. I don't think he'll tell Dr. Smyth, and I'd rather it come from us than someone else."

Lee just nodded. Billy had always been his friend, and even a father figure for Lee. He had hated lying to him, especially about something that should have been a happy occasion. He also knew that Billy would be pissed. Not so much that they were married, though that would be an issue, but that they hadn't come to him right away.

"They could split us up Amanda."

"I know that Lee, but if they find out any other way, they're definitely going to split us up. Aren't they?"

Lee swore then nodded, "yeah, you're right. I just hate the thought of it Amanda. I don't want a new partner."

She stood now and touched his lapel, "Me either, but I think if we do this right, maybe it won't come down to that."

He nodded, "you're sure then, because there's no taking it back?"

She stared at him for a minute, took a deep breath then nodded once. "No." She sighed, "But I don't see where we have a choice, Lee."

Lee opened the door for Billy.

August 18th 9:30 pm

The woman waited until she was sure that the two weren't coming back. She picked the lock on the kitchen door with ease and wondered silently why an agent wouldn't have a deadbolt.

She eased herself up the stairs in the silent house. She looked into each room as she passed, making a mental not of whose room was whose. When she came to the last door on the left she stopped. This was the room she was looking for. She stepped up onto the bed and removed the globe covering the light bulb and removed the almost invisible camera that had been attached to the light. Her real job made this one so much easier.

Looking around quickly to make sure that there wasn't anything else to leave behind. She knew that they would search the house top to bottom and she wanted to be sure that she didn't leave a single shred of evidence in her wake. Almost as an afterthought, she made her way across the room to the dresser. A wooden jewelry box sat in the middle. Opening it carefully she took placed one earring in her gloved palm. Looking in the mirror, she put the earring in her own ear. Pleased with the results, she found that earring's mate and did the same. Smiling, she left the same way she came in.

Before laying down for the evening, she put the earrings in her own jewelry box. She had to be careful not to wear them too soon, or she'd give herself away. She took the camera out of her bag, rewound the cassette and put the super8 away until she could get a chance to develop that too. The pictures were good, this would be so much better.


	4. Chapter 4

"You're WHAT?" He couldn't believe it. Billy sat, shocked into silence by the admission. He was expecting that they were involved. He had suspected dating, maybe even something more serious. He had condoned their relationship, 'whatever that may be,' back on the Kalahari list case. But, for all he was expecting, he wasn't expecting this.

"Married, sir."

"Uh, I think he got that Amanda." Lee turned his attention back to Billy. "Uh, Billy look…"

Billy stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Do you know how much this complicates things! I can't believe…who else knows about this?"

"Well, sir, we haven't told anyone, not even mother or the boys. I'm pretty sure that Joe knows that Lee and I are involved, but I've never told him about this."

"Billy, besides Amanda and I, you are the only person who knows." Lee was trying to placate and it wasn't working. Billy looked like he'd swallowed a nuclear weapon. The explosion was not going to be pretty. When Billy didn't blow up Lee was more worried than if he had.

"Well, it's obvious someone knows or at least suspects. That letter was addressed to Mrs. Amanda Stetson. Now, before you start, I understand how that could be just a guess, from one of your cover stories." Now the explosion Lee had feared came. Billy stood, slammed his palms onto his desk blotter and leaned towards Lee, "BUT HOW MANY OF THE PEOPLE YOU GAVE THAT COVER TO WOULD KNOW AMANDA'S ADDRESS!"

At a loss, Lee just said the first thing that came to mind, "Uh, they could have looked it up?" And it sounded lame, even to his own ears.

"Looked it up, Stetson? They'd be looking up Stetson. They'd have your address, not hers." Billy pointed in Amanda's general direction.

"Oh, yeah." Sheepishly, Lee stared at the desk.

"Yeah, oh. So now what are we supposed to do about this?" Billy smoothed his tie back against his stomach and sat back down in his chair. "Who knows Mrs. Ki…er, Amanda's address that would make this assumption?"

"The only people who know Amanda's address AND our cover, work here, Billy."

"That's what I was afraid of."

August 19th: 9:00am

Lee leaned back in his chair. Amanda looked like hell; he figured he wasn't exactly cutting a stunning profile himself. There was nothing they could do here. He wanted to have a case to take his mind off this whole spectacle, but the only case he had now was the pictures. Amanda refused to look at him. He wasn't sure what he'd done, but she hadn't said a word to him since they'd left Billy's office earlier.

"Manda?" He wasn't sure what to say to her. He almost felt like he should apologize, but he didn't really know what for. What he really wanted t do was hold her, and kiss her, and make all of this go away.

She looked up quickly, and then turned her attention back to the paper on her desk. She didn't trust herself to look at him. She didn't trust herself not to cry. She heard him sigh. She opened her mouth to say something but the door opening interrupted her.

"Uh, Lee, Amanda?"

"Um, yeah Rayne, what is it?" Lee looked at her. There was something different about the young woman that he couldn't put his finger on, something uncomfortably familiar about her.

"Yes sir, Mr. Melrose wanted me to ask you two to meet Francine in Questioned Documents."

"Thank you, Rayne, tell Mr. Melrose that we'll be right down." Amanda stood, straightened her skirt and led them out of the room.

Lee followed behind them.

"Um, Mrs. King? Are you okay? You seem upset. If you want to uh, maybe to talk about it?"

Amanda continued forward, turning slightly to the younger woman. "I'm fine Rayne, thanks," she lied.

"Okay." Rayne shrugged and broke off from the group in the bullpen with a wicked grin.

Questioned Documents, same day:

"Well, I have some news. I don't think you're going to like it." Francine was frowning at the computer.

"Well?" He snapped. Lee was impatient and definitely not in the mood for games.

She scowled at Lee, "Look, I'm doing what I can here alright."

Lee held his hands out in supplication. "I'm sorry, what is it Francine?"

"Well, the card is a standard issue Hallmark. There are at least 20 places just in the city where anyone can buy these. Outside of the city, the number increases exponentially. As you know, there wasn't any handwriting in the card, so tracing it that way isn't going to work. As for fingerprints there are two distinct sets and something strange."

"Strange how?" Amanda wasn't much more patient than Lee, but she hid her annoyance better.

"Well, the two sets we can read are yours and Lee's. The third is there, but they're smudged. It looks intentional. Who ever did this is teasing us. We can't fix these into anything usable. Just for the heck of it, I had a copy sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, but I don't think they have anything we don't. Those impressions were put on the card on purpose. Who ever did it put their finger in the paper and twisted," Francine held her thumb on a blank piece of paper and demonstrated, "like this."

She got up from her seat and grabbed the envelope. "This has more prints. Yours, Lee's, a Henry Andrews…"

"He's my mailman."

"And the rest of the identifiable prints all belong to people in the post office. They're all a match for postal workers. This doesn't have any of the smudged prints. The postmark says Alexandria, VA. Again, that doesn't help. It only tells us that this was mailed locally." With a sigh, Francine flipped the envelope in her hands. "The address is handwritten, but, in uniform, small, printed capitol letters. They are completely nondescript. None of the letters ha anything unusual about it. If there were anything, an odd angle, a flourish, it would make it much easier to trace. As it is, anyone could have written this."

Francine took another look at the envelope then put it down on the table. She wished she could get more from the envelope. There wasn't very much to tell them from any of this. She picked up the stack of pictures. "These were taken in sets over a number of hours if not days. The cast and angle of the shadows show which pictures where taken when. Of course, what you're wearing gives us a time frame too. The pictures were developed at home or in a private lab. There aren't any time or date stamps or batch or plant numbers on the back. This is standard Kodak paper. It can be bought at any of the of the photography supply stores in the city. I have three agents on that now."

"Looking for what?"

"Lee, it's all we have. We're going to see if we can get a list of people who bought photo supplies and photo paper. Hopefully, we can narrow it down."

"But, Francine, if who ever bought it paid in cash…"

"Then we hope they have a mailing list, or customer list, or even a special request list. If they paid by check or credit, then we've got something to go on. If not…" She trailed off. She knew the chances of getting anything were slim.

"How about the type of camera."

"High end. No light leaks. Probably an SLR with multiple lenses. I don't think a mass produced auto-focus camera could take pictures like these." Now the camera expert, a short red headed man with an expansive forehead and a mass of freckles stepped forward. "Some of these pictures were taken from a good distance with a high quality telephoto lens. Otherwise, you would have been standing next to the person who was taking these. My guess for the make of camera is one of three. Unfortunately, they're relatively common, even if they are expensive. And each brand has 4 or 5 models. My expert opinion, Canon probably an A or an FT, a Minolta, or a Nikon." He brought out samples of all three cameras. The bodies were very similar, black and silver. "All three types are standard issue here for surveillance work. They're also relatively common with good photographers. Not necessarily professionals, but someone who cares about how their images come out. And if this person develops their own film, you can bet that they're not your average tourist."

August 19th 8:30pm.

She sat at her table looking at pictures. She frowned. There had to be a way of getting rid of Stetson. He was just complicating things. He was the reason Amanda couldn't spend time with her. And hadn't she known that he would be the reason that Amanda was upset today? Hadn't she known that having a relationship with Stetson would just cause problems? After all why else would she be so upset. Men! Ha, they really weren't very good for anything. Her father had left her and her mother when she was four. It didn't surprise her at all that Lee was just as no good and deceptive as Alan Eberhardt.

Stetson was good though, one of the best actually, and getting him out of the picture wouldn't be easy. She wasn't ready for extreme measures just yet. But there were simpler ways. Judging by Mr. Melrose's sour disposition today, he found out a little more than he wanted to know about his two favorite agents. She could use that. Her frown turned into a smile as she thought more about it.

Getting up, she walked to the bedroom and opened the jewelry box. The gold earrings glinted in the low light. She ran a finger over the metal and smiled wistfully. Closing the box again, she went into the living room. Flopping down on the couch, she turned on the news and pulled a long draught out of the longneck on the coffee table.

August 19th 8:30 pm, Lee's Corvette

Amanda sat back in the bucket seat. She and Lee hadn't spoken since that morning. Amanda had no urge to let this go on forever. It wasn't his fault, even if he was the easiest to blame. She turned to him, "Lee?"

He started. He was actually surprised to hear her voice. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be taking this out on you. I'm not angry with you. I'm worried that they aren't going to be able to figure out who this is. I can't stay at your apartment forever."

"I know, I know." He put his hand over hers and squeezed gently. "We'll figure this out Amanda. I promise. Look, let's go get something to eat. I know it's late, but let's get out of the city. After supper, we can decide what we're going to do."

She studied him for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, sure. You pick, okay?"

He nodded turned the car onto the Beltway heading towards Baltimore and shifted into 6th gear. The powerful engine roared and carried them away from the hot, oppressive city.


	5. Chapter 5

Tuesday, August 21st. Early Morning.

This was supposed to be a week when they could actually pretend to be a normal married couple. Instead, it was turning into a nightmare. By the time they'd gotten back from Maryland it had been after midnight. Amanda didn't want to stay at her house, so she spent the night with Lee at his apartment. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, they were both so exhausted that they were asleep almost as soon as they fell into bed. They only good thing that had come out of this was getting to wake up in Lee's bed and not worry about what her mother would think. She fervently wished that it had been under different circumstances.

Amanda looked at the clock and groaned. She didn't want to get up. It felt like she'd just gotten to sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she pushed the covers back and got out of bed. She stretched and looked at Lee. He was still asleep. She smiled at his sleeping form. The alarm would go off in 10 minutes anyway, so she figured she'd get her shower in and make herself some breakfast before he woke up. He'd hit the snooze button at least a couple of times anyway.

She was just stepping out of the shower when she heard the clock radio go off. She took her robe from the back of the door and pulled it on. Toweling dry her hair, she heard Lee call for her. "In here, sweetheart."

Lee walked to the bathroom and let himself in. He was only wearing pajama bottoms. His hair was tousled and he had morning stubble. He smiled at Amanda. She wasn't wearing anything but a pink satiny robe and her hair was up on her head in a towel turban. He loved her more in that second than he ever had. She touched his cheek and kissed him.

"Good morning."

"Morning. I'll make some coffee." She turned from him and he stopped her. His long fingers closed around her shoulder and he turned her back to face him. The sleep in his eyes had been replaced by something much more alive.

"In a few minutes." His voice was barely a whisper.

Biting her bottom lip, she looked up at him, "better be longer than that."

He let out a harsh laugh and scooped her into his arms. She let out a surprised little, "oh." He carried her to the bed and lowered her onto it gently. He covered her body with his own and claimed her mouth.

"Lee, we're going to be late." She didn't stop him from freeing her hair or undoing the belt on her robe.

"I don't care," he growled before kissing her again and slipping the robe from her shoulders. He planted gentle kisses on the soft skin between her neck and her shoulder and worked his way up to her chin and then on to her mouth.

Smiling up at him she whispered, "me either."

They rode to the agency in near silence. Lee stole more than a few sideways glances at Amanda and smiled broadly when he was finally caught. She smiled back and then turned her attention back out the window.

Billy glared at Lee when they entered the bullpen almost an hour late. Lee began to say something and Billy cut him off, "save it scarecrow. Let me guess, there was a lot of traffic?"

"Uh, no, actually, we went to Baltimore last night and it was a late night and I, uh, overslept."

Francine grinned at him, "oh is that what they're calling it now?"

Lee glared at her, "Fr…"

"Alright you two, knock it off. We don't have time for this." Billy straightened his shoulders and flattened his tie against himself, "There's nothing new on those photos or on anything else. We're at square one. I don't know what you two have scheduled for today, but unless it's a Priority 1 case put it on the back burner. We need to get to the bottom of this first. If someone is after one of my agents, I want them stopped."

Lee nodded, "Yeah. I agree. But Billy, what about Rayne?"

"Already taken care of. Beaman will be running her through some extra class work. I set it up earlier." Francine didn't smile as she tapped a very thin file against her knuckles.

The small group walked through the bullpen to Billy's office. Lee and Amanda sat in the armchairs facing Billy's desk. Francine perched on the arm of the sofa. She leaned forward, elbow on crossed knees. Billy stood behind his desk for a minute, and then sat with a sigh.

Lee buttoned his suit coat, and then unbuttoned it again. His nerves were obvious in his fidgeting and Amanda wanted nothing more than to reach over and touch him, hold his hand. And even though Billy knew about their marriage, Francine didn't, and as much fun as it would be in any other situation to be the one to break the news to her, it wasn't the time or place.

They all sat in silence for a while. Unfortunately, this case wasn't going anywhere so there was very little to say. Billy cleared his throat, "alright, who do we know is working in DC or the DC area right now?"

"Know? We don't know anything Billy."

"Okay, Francine, what rumors do we have?"

She opened the thin file and began to read, "Ivan Ranovich, Vladyslav Marstovski, Inga Berger, Yuri Valov, but," she stopped Amanda's protest, "I've ruled him out, after the Possum incident, I don't think he's a viable suspect. The others are a Yugoslav named Drascul Ceausescu, and an Iraqi named Wedad Said. Neither of you have ever worked a case on any of them." She handed out the six profiles for Lee to look over.

"Well, I can understand the German's or the KGB's interest in US, but the Yugoslavs' or the Iraqis'?" Lee flipped through the short stack of names and faces. "These people are all professionals. If they were interested in us, in observing us, why would they let us in on that fact? No, Billy, I don't buy it. I don't think any of these people are the one's we're looking for."

Billy sighed, "It's all we've got."

Lee nodded as he handed the pictures to Amanda.

Tuesday, August 21st. Afternoon.

Rayne was furious. She knew she'd been put on this tedious, fatally boring class work assignment by Stetson. Amanda would never have done this to her. She scrawled out her answers to the questions in barely legible script. Maybe if she could get this done early, she could get out of here and get something else done. Putting on a saccharine sweet smile, she handed the manila folder to Ephraim Beaman. "Here you go, sir. All done."

Looking up at the young woman, Beaman smiled and took the folder. "Thank you, Miss Eberhardt. One more and you're done for the…uh," Beaman had to think quickly. She wasn't done for the day; Billy had wanted her out of Lee and Amanda's hair all day. It was barely 3 pm. "Uh, well, let me rephrase that, you're done with me for the day. Lee and Amanda are out on a priority assignment today. So when you're done here, you can run up to crypto and Lizette Martin will show you around."

Keeping the blinding smile on her face, Rayne nodded and took the folder he held out to her. She knew damned well what case Lee and Amanda were working on right now. She knew a snow job when she saw one. Sitting back at the desk, she flipped through the stack of paper work. She knew now that the pictures had been too much, too soon. She needed to back off, to move more slowly, less obviously. Smiling again, this time to herself, Rayne plotted her next move.

Tuesday, August 21st. 5 pm.

Rayne caught up to Amanda as she was leaving for the day. She'd rehearsed this moment in her head for the last hour and a half. Putting on her most sincere smile, she ran to catch up with Amanda before she went upstairs. If she headed for the Q-bureau Rayne wouldn't be able to follow without looking a little too eager. "Uh, Amanda?"

Amanda turned at the foot of the stairs and managed a smile, "What's up Rayne?"

"Um, you seem to have been having a rough couple of days. I was wondering if you'd like to go get a drink or something."

Amanda considered it. She really wasn't in the mood to go for drinks. What she wanted to do was go home and take a hot bath and sleep, next to her husband. Of course, she couldn't go home, she couldn't go anywhere right now. She sighed, none of this was Rayne's fault, and she knew how tough it could be to get started in this agency, so even against her better judgment she pulled off another smile and said, "I'm giving Lee a ride home, but if you don't mind the extra company, sure, let me get him and my purse."

"Uh, okay," this wasn't going as Rayne had planned. Lee wasn't supposed to be coming with them. It was just supposed to be Rayne and Amanda so they could catch up, so that their friendship could deepen, "but I was hoping that we could talk. You seemed upset today, and it may be none of my business, Amanda, but it seemed that you didn't really want to be around Lee. Figured we could talk, woman to woman." She had to try to control her wince at her own words; she never intended to come off this needy.

Amanda didn't like the feelings she was getting off the younger woman all of a sudden. Frowning, she said, "Rayne, I really can't just leave Lee here without a ride home. Maybe we should do this some other night? I have a lot going on right now, and I think it would be better if I just went home and went to bed."

Rayne had to fight to hide her disappointment and her growing annoyance. She doubted that Amanda was just going home to go to bed, and even if she was, it wasn't going to be alone. Instead, she managed a chipper, "sure, you've had a rough couple of days. Next week?"

"Sure. Next week." Amanda watched as Rayne shove her car keys into her handbag and open the front door. Shaking her head, she went up the flight of stairs to the Q-Bureau.

"Lee?"

"Uh, yeah. I'll be ready in a minute, Amanda."

"Take your time." She sat on the edge of her desk and waited for him to come out of the vault.

He closed the door behind him and made sure it was locked, "ready. Let's get the hell out of here, shall we?"

Holding out her hand for him, she nodded. He took her hand in his and opened the door for her. "Dinner, Mrs. Stetson?"

"Love to." With a light in her eyes, she turned to him, "Your place or mine?"

Grinning like a kid on Christmas morning Lee didn't answer, just led her down the hall and down the stairs. He let go of her hand only to pass by Mrs. Marsten and to open the outer door. Still grinning he waved a little goodbye to the often terse and now confused woman. As soon as the door shut behind them, Lee took Amanda's hand again and led her to the jeep. It was all Amanda could do not to laugh.

Sitting at the opposite end of the block, Rayne scowled. With a string of swears, she stabbed her car into gear and headed away from the agency.


	6. Chapter 6

Wednesday August 21st 2 am

The phone rang at Lee's apartment jarring them both awake. One ring. That was all. The silence that followed was deep, ominous. Amanda lay fully awake now in the darkness. When the first shrill tone sounded, she was awake. It could be her mother, or her boys, but she knew better. In her heart, she knew it wasn't her. It was _him_. It was who ever was after her, after them. She knew that from the core of her being and she stared at the ceiling.

Lee turned to her, "It'll be okay, Amanda."

"You keep saying that, but will it really?"

Lee sat up and turned on the light. He sighed, "Manda…"

She couldn't control the anger she felt, "You heard what Billy said. We. Are. At. Square. One. We have no leads, no clue who this is. No matter where I am, where we are they know." Her voice broke, "I'm afraid of the telephone. Every time it rings, I feel sick."

The tears standing in her eyes were like a punch in the stomach. Her fear and anger were physically painful for him, "Amanda, I say it because I mean it, okay? No matter what happens, I won't let anything happen to you. It'll be okay."

Releasing her breath in an almost silent non-laugh, she whispered, "What if you can't?"

He didn't know what to say to her. The only response that came to him was to be angry. "Fine, if that's how you feel…"

"Lee…"

"Never mind, just forget it, alright." He got out of bed and pulled on his jeans. "I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Following him out of the room she spoke to his back, "Lee, that's not what I meant…"

He spun to face her and she took a step backwards, her stomach knotted, he wasn't angry he was hurt and that bothered her more than if he were mad. "Then what did you mean? Huh? If I can't protect you then what the hell good am I? If I stay out here, nobody's going to get by me. I will protect you, Amanda."

For the first time, she spoke what had been haunting her, "Not if you're dead."

"What?"

"What if it isn't me they're after? What if it's you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What if I'm not the target? What if this crackpot is after you? You know more agents than I do. You've got to have more enemies than me." She winced at her words. She was just so eloquent tonight.

His anger disappeared, she was right, even if it came out badly. "Okay, well, I guess that's possible. I've definitely stepped on more toes than you have. But if someone was after me, if an agent wanted me out of the picture, I don't think they'd be sending cards to my wife, or calling to let me know about it do you? This could be your average run of the mill crackpot couldn't it?"

"I guess so, Lee, but this doesn't feel like run of the mill crazy to me."

He sighed, "Yeah. Me either." He reached for her and she came willingly. He held her and she rested her cheek on his bare shoulder.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Come back to bed, Lee."

He spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling.

Wednesday August 21st. 345 pm.

Amanda sighed and turned up Lee's radio. They usually talked on the ride home from the agency, but neither of them knew what to say at this point. Instead, they sat in silence listening to the radio. Neither Lee nor Amanda paid much attention to what the DJ was saying. They never seemed to say much of anything important anyway. He looked over at her and wished he knew what to say to her. Amanda stared out the window and watched the scenery speed by. Unconsciously, she put her hand on Lee's shoulder and squeezed a bit. It was a gesture she was using more and more frequently lately.

He wished they had found something, anything. Instead, all they had done was run around in circles with the same useless, practically nonexistent information they had started with. By afternoon, Lee was frustrated and grumpy, and Amanda had stopped talking altogether.

"You know," he finally broke the silence when she touched him. Speaking just louder than the music, he tried to make himself sound sure, "this guy's going to make a mistake sooner or later, Amanda, and then we'll catch him."

Nodding she sighed again and wished she could believe him, wishing she didn't get the sick feeling that by that point it may be too late. "Lee? Could we stop by the house before we go back to your place? I want to pick up some clothes and see if Mother or the boys have called. I don't want them to worry."

"Yeah, of course."

Again, they lapsed into silence. The DJ came back from commercial and introduced the next song, "This next one goes out to Amanda from a friend. Whoever you are, Amanda, you sure have some strange friends."

Amanda started. She knew she wasn't the only Amanda in this guy's listening area, but this was too much. She stared at the radio as if it were possessed. Lee glared at the radio as if the DJ would see him and think better of playing the dedication.

Suddenly, Lee realized what the group was singing he punched at the preset buttons on the Corvette's radio, finally landing on an innocuous country station. She shook her head and whispered softly, "no, Lee, I want to hear it."

She punched the original preset button. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the song continued. She had to fight not to hyperventilate. Lee took her hand and squeezed her fingers gently.

"It could be anything, to anyone, there're other Amandas right," he offered weakly. He knew exactly what this was, and he felt helpless. Helpless was not an emotion Lee Stetson handled well.

Amanda nodded a weak agreement. Of course, there were other Amandas. Right now, that didn't make her feel any better.

The DJ spoke again over the end of the song. He laughed, completely unaware of the true intent of the dedication. He continued, "Well, that's the new Police, Every Breath You Take. People have been going crazy about that song. Heard it's all over the place for weddings. Dunno, about you guys, but sounds more like a stalker than a lover to me. But hey, what do I know, Sting says it's about spies. This is Dan the Man on WFFX the Fox 91.1 fm signing off. It's just about 4 pm. Lannie the Sly Fox is up next. Here's Roxette and It Must've Been Love."

Scanning the oncoming traffic, Lee slammed on the brakes and spun the car into the opposite lane. He gunned the gas and headed back to the agency. Someone knew too much. The double meaning of that dedication may have been lost on the general listening audience, but it wasn't lost on scarecrow. And by the expression on Amanda's face, it wasn't lost on her either. To guess Amanda was married to him could have been lucky. Hell, this psycho might not even know that much. The pictures and the phone calls could all be explained away by someone they'd used their cover with. Amanda's address was painted on the curb in front of her house. The spy part of it was far too close to home. They were going to figure out where that call came from, when it was made, and anything else 'Dan the Man' could tell them. Even if he had to beat it out of the guy.

"Okay, that's enough," Lee picked up the handset to his radio. "This is Scarecrow, I need you to get me a phone number."

"This is the operator Scarecrow, what can I get you?" The woman's soft voice was curt and efficient.

"I need the phone number for the station manager for WFFX."

"Come again?"

"It's a radio station. WFFX, uh the Fox, 91.1. Not sure where they broadcast from."

"Hold please."

The radio crackled back to life, "Scarecrow?"

"Yeah, what do you have?" He motioned for Amanda to write down the number.

"The station is out of Cheverly. The number is (301) 556-8731. I can connect you if you'd like."

"No. No thanks, I'll call from the car." He hooked the mic back on the radio, "Amanda, I'm going to bring you back to the Agency. I want to go talk to that DJ."

"Lee…"

He sighed, he wasn't in the mood to argue about whether they both needed to go to the station or not, he wanted her at the Agency because that's where he knew she was safe. "Amanda…"

She stared at him for a second and for probably the first time in the entire time they'd known each other, she didn't argue with him, "just be careful, okay?"

"It's a radio station, Amanda, not the Kremlin."

She turned her attention back out the window.

He sighed again, "I'll be careful."

Turning back to him she smiled but didn't say anything. She didn't say anything else until he dropped her off at the Agency. "Call me when you find something?"

"Yeah, tell Billy where I went and that I'll be back as soon as possible."

She nodded and closed the door of the Corvette with a little more force than necessary. She winced a bit as she walked away. Opening the door at the Georgetown Foyer, she managed a smile for Mrs. Marsten. "I'll be in the Q-bureau."

"Actually, Mrs. King, Mr. Melrose wanted me to send you and Mr. Stetson to his office as soon as you got back."

"Oh, okay." She frowned slightly. She hated feeling like she was being called to the principal's office. And she hated feeling that way when it was Billy asking to talk to her.

Closing the closet elevator door, she caught Rayne in the corner of her eye running down the stairs. She held the elevator.

"Thanks Amanda."

"No problem." Even though the ride down to the bullpen was short Amanda felt the need to make small talk, "So how are your classes with Mr. Beaman going?"

"Oh, good. Good. We've been practicing lock picking and working on scenarios the last few days. He's kept me pretty busy." The younger woman cleared her throat, "uh, I was wondering if you wanted to maybe get dinner tonight. If Mr. Stetson wants to come he's welcome." She cringed inwardly. The last thing she wanted was Lee Stetson tagging along. She wanted her friendship with Amanda to grow and the only way that could happen was if Lee was out of the way, but she also knew that Amanda wasn't going to go for it if Lee wasn't invited.

"Actually, we're working on a case right now, but how about a rain check?"

Swallowing her disappointment and her anger, Rayne nodded, "Sure, just let me know what's good for you."

The elevator bell dinged and the doors slid open. Rayne peeled away from Amanda as Billy approached. "Amanda, I need you and Lee in my office right now."

"Sir, Lee is headed to a radio station in Maryland," she filled Billy in on the dedication and Lee's decision to drop her off before heading out to the station to question the DJ as they walked back to his office.

"Well, that dedication may be the least of our problems." He turned a thick manila envelope in his hands, "This came into my office an hour ago. It was marked Eyes Only. Inside was a tape and another set of pictures. The pictures are more of the same. The video, well I think you should see that for yourself."

Amanda's stomach did an uncomfortable flip. She could only imagine what was on a video.

"Oh, there was also a copy of this." He handed Amanda a single sheet of paper. It was a photocopy of her marriage license. "Well, they are public record. We have bigger problems than this. Sending this to me is one thing, if whoever this is sends this to Smyth, all of our behinds are going to be in a sling." He sat back in his chair. "If this came to me by messenger, then…"

"It has to be someone inside the Agency."

Billy just nodded.

WFFX 91.1 Cheverly Maryland 5:15pm

Lee had called the radio station from the car while he sat in traffic on the George Washington parkway. This should have been a 20 minute ride, instead it was almost an hour. The woman he spoke to was apparently the station manager _and_ the DJ. She said she'd see him as soon as he could get there.

Lee knocked on the glass of the sound booth. A dark haired woman looked up and smiled then held up a finger indicating for Lee to wait.

When the red on air light finally blinked off the woman hung her headphones on the hanging microphone, "hi, you must be Mr. Stetson I'm Lannie Sheridan. How can I help you?" Her voice was soft with an easy southern accent.

"Uh yeah." Lee had the time but he didn't have the inclination to come up with a cover. He flipped his ID. "I need to know who requested a song this afternoon."

Looking unimpressed with the government ID, the woman raised one eyebrow and fixed Lee with her chocolate brown eyes, "um, sure. I guess. When was it requested…hold on a second, I have to segue into the commercial, here come on in. Just don't say anything unless you want the whole metro DC area hearing it."

He nodded and leaned against the edge of a desk. Lannie held one of the earphones to her head and spoke into the microphone, "okay folks, if you wanna keep the radio free, you gotta listen to some of these, then a no talk rock block, 10 in a row; this is Lannie the Sly Fox on WFFX fm."


	7. Chapter 7

She pushed a set of buttons on a series of towers, listened for a second, and then hung the headphones back up. "Well, that'll give us about ½ an hour. I really do want to help you Mr. Stetson, but as you can see, I'm a little short handed this afternoon. I just want to let you know that we don't actually get personal information from our callers unless they win a prize."

Lee nodded, he had figured as much. "Well, do what you can, Ms. Sheridan."

"Lannie. Okay, now what time did you say the request was made? "

"Uh it was the last, no second to last song from the last DJ, so about ten to 4."

"That's when it played?"

Lee grunted at the unpleasant memory, "yeah, it was called, uh, Every Breath you Take and it was by the Police."

She laughed without humor, "oh, the stalker song. We get A LOT of requests for that one. If it played at 3:50 then it was probably requested at least 35 minutes before that if not more. There's always a time delay between requests and plays."

Lee slumped a little, "damn."

"Actually, that's not a problem. That narrows it down, so maybe there's something we can do."

"If you don't get personal information, I don't see…"

"Well, we might not get full names and addresses from every caller, but we do record every caller. You wouldn't believe the whackos that call in here sometimes. Ex husbands, jilted girlfriends, you never know who's going to be on the other end of the line. Most of the time it's innocent sometimes it isn't. I assume that's why you're here."

Lee nodded again, "yeah, we have reason to believe that the dedication was made by someone the Agency is actively looking for."

"Everyone knows that if they call they may be recorded and their voice and first name could be played on air, so we probably have your caller on one of the dailies. We record over them after about 48 hours. Follow me."

She led the tall agent down the hall to a room not much bigger than a closet. Fans blew cool air into the room while others vented the hot exhaust. Lee looked around fairly impressed, the technology they had was very up to date.

Lannie gave him a little grin, "you didn't think we still used double reels did you?"

Flipping a switch, she removed the tape from the machine. She explained that it was time coded and he could have it. "Hope it helps."

Lee slid behind the wheel of the Corvette in time to hear the dispatcher paging him. Dropping his head back against the seat, he thumbed the mic, "Stetson."

"Mr. Stetson? Mr. Melrose is looking for you. He has something related to the case you and Mrs. King are working on. He wants you back here yesterday."

"Tell Billy I'll be back ASAP." Lee sighed and cranked the engine. It figured that the traffic going to the Agency was even worse than the traffic headed to Maryland and now it was rush hour. Growling a little, Lee slammed his palm into the steering wheel. Through gritted teeth, he hissed, "I thought people _left_ the city at night."

It was after 7 when Lee finally pulled back into the parking garage. He palmed the tape and let himself in. Mrs. Marsten was gone. Almost everyone was gone. Of course, there were always people on duty, but after 6 on a weekday the Agency slowed down just like any other business. Not to mention it was 100 degrees outside and even the bad guys had seemingly taken a rest. Well, almost all of them anyway.

Amanda was still sitting in Billy's office when Lee finally came in. It was the first time Lee had smiled in hours. His smile faltered when Amanda looked up at him and then instantly went to staring at her hands.

"What's up, Billy?"

Without a word, Billy handed Lee the envelope he'd showed Amanda earlier.

"Damn it. Damn."

"Just count yourself lucky that it came to me and not to Smyth."

Lee didn't bother to look at the pictures, but he held up the super8 cassette with a question on his lips.

"I don't know, Lee. I didn't look at it. I thought I'd give you and Amanda the opportunity to do that first."

"Uh, yeah, thanks Billy. Oh, I got the tape from the radio station. The DJ said that they record all their requests so maybe we can get a voice, though I don't think that our guy would let himself be recorded."

"Well, it's all we have. I can have Ernie set up a viewing room for you to watch that. I'll take the tape to Francine and see what she can find."

"Sure Billy."

Billy sighed, "Look, why don't you two go home for the night. There's nothing else you can do here. I think we all have a good idea of what we're going to find on that tape. I don't think it's going to make much difference if you see it tonight or tomorrow." He paused and gave Lee a long look, "Oh, and now that we know this person is watching Amanda, I don't want her out of your sight unless she's here. Understood."

"Yeah Billy." Lee shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at his wife.

"Amanda?"

"Yes sir." As much as she wanted to protest she knew it wouldn't do her any good. And there was a large part of her that was sick of being away from Lee anyway.

They didn't even get half way to the car before they decided they'd rather hear the tape. It wasn't like they were getting all that much sleep anyway.

With a sigh, Amanda sat next to Francine at the audio station. Lee stood behind the two women. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

The tape was playing through all the call ins for the night. Some were odd, a few were creepy, but most were just everyday requests. It seemed like there were hundreds of them in a day. Lee sighed and looked at his watch.

He snapped to attention when he heard the name of the song, "whoa, ho, that's it. Can you play that back, Francine?"

She nodded and rewound to the beginning of the dedication. A man with a slight Midwestern accent spoke. "Yeah, hi, I'd uh, I'd like to um, to request a song. Oh God. I'd like to um, dedicate that new Police song. To Amanda."

"Every Breath you Take?" That was the station manager's voice.

"Yeah, sure. Th…thanks."

The call ended there.

"So were looking for a man from somewhere in the Midwest. What time was that call placed? Bill do you think Justice could get us a list of incoming phone calls to the station?"

Billy sighed, "I'll have to call in some favors. There are a lot of people who have nothing to do with this on that tape too."

Lee nodded, "Thanks Billy."

Francine was frowning, "I'm not sure this is our guy."

"What? He's right there on tape, making the request." Lee's impatience was evident.

"Look, I know you want this guy, but I'm not sure this is the person we're looking for. Look." She pointed to a readout on the audio machine's screen. "See these peaks. These peaks are stress peaks. Regular speech doesn't have this many peaks. No where near this many. Either this guy is under a lot of stress, or this was patched together from a bunch of conversations. Hold on."

After removing background noise and lowering vocal volume Francine played the tape again, "No clicks. This tape wasn't cobbled together. I think whoever made this call was under a lot of stress."

Amanda looked up at Francine, "You mean like he was being forced to call?"

Lee's look was incredulous.

"Lee, listen to the tape again. This guy is not doing this on his own. We've all done interrogations. We've all heard this guy in someone we've broken before."

Slumping, Lee shoved his hands in his pockets, "yeah." He was sick of dead ends. He was sick of this guy being one step ahead of them all the time.

Billy sighed and straightened his tie, "I'll go make that phone call."


	8. Chapter 8

"Go home, Lee. There's nothing you can do here." And frankly, you're making me jumpy standing around sulking, Francine thought. He looked like hell. Amanda looked like hell.

"Yeah, well there's nothing I can do there either. Damn it Francine, how is this guy always one step ahead of us?"

Leaning back in her chair, Francine shook her head.

"There's nothing else that tape can tell us?"

"Amanda, all I can get from this tape is what's on it. There's one person's voice, there aren't any clicks, ticks, pops, hisses, or anything else that make it any more distinctive than the standard tape we use for comparison. There isn't even any background noise. I'm sorry."

Billy came back less than 10 minutes later, "well, I had to call in some favors, and I can only hope the old man doesn't find out, but we'll have that list of numbers by 6 AM. I assume you two didn't get a chance to look at that tape?"

"No sir."

"Not yet, Billy, no."

Lee had never been more thankful for privacy then when the cassette loaded and began to play. Amanda gasped and covered her mouth. She turned from the screen and stared at the far wall. Lee cleared his throat uncomfortably, but never actually took his eyes off the screen.

Looking up at him, Amanda's eyes narrowed. She hissed his name through clenched teeth.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I'll, um…" He flushed a little and punched the stop button on the cassette player.

Amanda brushed past him and left the room. She would have slammed the door if it had been possible. Instead the pneumatic arm let it close at its own pace. Lee went after her.

"Manda? Hey. Hold on, would you?" He took her arm and spun her to face him. His stomach did an uncomfortable flip. She was almost in tears. "Amanda, look, I…" he sighed, "Amanda, it's my job to look for things. Even things that I don't want to look at. There could be something on that tape that could help us."

Tired of arguing, she just nodded. "I want to go home. I hungry and I'm tired."

"Alright, let me just tell Billy."

She didn't bother to answer, just nodded and walked away. Lee watched her go. He sighed deeply, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked away.

Thursday, August 23rd. 8:25 AM

Lee alternately stared at his coffee mug and at his wife. Amanda sat; hands folded and stared through the far wall. "Amanda?"

"Hmm?" Well it was a start. Actually, it was more than she'd said to him in hours.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night, okay." He watched her for any reaction and got none. The more he thought about this the more he realized that this could be the end of his marriage. That thought made him sick. "Talk to me. Please?"

She looked at him and sighed. He wasn't the only one worried about what this was going to do to their relationship. She opened her mouth to respond when a short red haired woman came into the Q-Bureau.

It took Lee only a second to realize that they weren't alone anymore. "Uh, Shannon, what do you have for us? Tell me those wiretaps are in."

"They are. Here you go. Oh, and Smyth's in the building so heads up, okay?"

He nodded, "Thanks."

Opening the folder he groaned. The little flame of hope that had started to form was mercilessly stomped out. There were easily 1000 phone numbers on the green and white striped print out. He sat back down and dropped the folder onto his blotter.

Amanda stood and approached him, "What's wrong, Lee?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Only that there have to be five hundred numbers on this list. This is going to take forever."

She picked up the folder and scanned the sheet, "Maybe not. Look." Holding the folder in front of him she leaned over his shoulder. He only heard the last part of her comment, having let his mind wander slightly as their bodies touched.

"Huh?"

"There's a time stamp. Next to each number there's a time stamp for when the call came into the station. We can narrow this down by the time the call came in can't we?"

He leaned foward, grabbed the folder and flipped through the pages. "Yeah, good catch. So if we start within the half hour of the time on the tape just in case their clocks and Justice's don't match that should really narrow it down."

Between 3 and 4:30 pm there were 100 calls. Some of them were under 10 seconds. Lee decided to scratch all of those. The dedication they were looking for had lasted more than 10 seconds. After crossing out all of the calls that were too short or too long they had a much more manageable list of thirty-eight. Taking half the list, Amanda went back to her computer. Even though Justice had approved the records, they'd limited the information on them. It would take a while to get addresses to go with these names.

"Lee?"

Lee's response was cut off as Francine came into the Q-Bureau. "Park service just called in a body at a payphone in Rock Creek Park near the National Zoo."

Amanda frowned, "Why would Park Service call the Agency?"

"Well, it's federal land, so it's federal jurisdiction."

Amanda scanned the list in front of her again. "Lee," she met Lee's eyes and tapped her finger on the print out. "This call came in at 3:52 from a payphone."

"How much do you want to bet it's our caller?"

"Well, what's the number? I had Park Service give me the number of the phone, just in case."

"212-555-1998"

"It's the same."

Lee swore and grabbed his keys off his desk. "Come on. Let's get out there before the scene gets destroyed."

Rock Creek Park

Between the Park Service Rangers, Metro Police, and Agents, the area was crawling with people. A twenty square foot area around the payphone was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape that billowed in the afternoon breeze. A black body bag lay on the grass only a few feet from the phonebooth. Flashing their badges; Lee, Amanda, Francine, and Billy crossed the tape and approached the head Ranger.

"Who's the victim?"

"Toby Anderson. Tourist from Hopkinsville, Kentucky."

"Hopkinsville, huh?" Lee thumbed through the man's wallet and let out a low whistle, "Well, robbery wasn't a motive here. He has to have 200 bucks in his wallet. There are going to be hundreds of prints in there," he motioned in the general direction of the phone booth.

"Actually, Mr. Stetson, we've only found one set so far."

"One?"

"Yeah, they belong to Mr. Anderson here. Other than that this booth is clean. It's like someone took Windex to it. There isn't a print on it that doesn't belong to your dead guy over there. There isn't even a single wad of gum stuck under the table. The book's missing."

"Probably figured they couldn't get the prints off of the pages in the book after they looked up the number for FFX. Shit."

Amanda was staring over the body bag and towards the woods. No matter how long she did this job, death would always bother her. She cocked her head as something white caught her eye. Walking away without a word she bent down in front of the offending item. Fluttering on the woody stem of a purple coneflower was a small piece of white flannel cloth.

"Lee!"

He was next to her in seconds. His heart hammered in his chest. The reaction was far more than her call warranted, but who ever this was, was playing for keeps. They'd killed for their game now, and all bets were off.

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Amanda." He tried to keep the impatience out of his voice and realized he failed miserably.

"This piece of cloth. It looks like a piece of scarf or something. It's a little warm to be wearing a scarf, don't you think?"

"Actually, yeah, it does."

He picked up the cloth and motioned for the coroner. "Hey, how'd Mr. Anderson die?"

"Well, as far as we can tell he was strangled. Most likely, by the marks on this throat, something like a scarf or necktie. It was cloth of some kind it left burns."

"Something like this?"

"Very well could be, Mr. Stetson. I'll know more after the autopsy. Someone's going to have to contact his family."

Lee just nodded and walked away.


End file.
